The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1887-06-10
Crowds OF Gaily Dressed Men and
Women at the Place OF Exc
cution - The Prisoners
Iron Collar OF Death.

tuberoSes at their buttOnholcs, as if they
were going TO the Retro to wait for the
advent of the open carriage Of some belle.
II was 0 O'clock in the morning when ]
left my house Although the heat was
already overwhelming, l resolved to 90
on foot from the corner of the Gale dc
Alcala to the place of execution. The
nearer | approached the square the more
compact became the crowd. To proceed
at all soon became impossible. The
crowding and pushing, however, only in
creased the Inerriment of the mischievous
girls of Madrid.
Suddenly the crowd halts and a great
silence falls. A close carriage, with
blinds down, escorted by picket of civil
guards, slowly passes through the press.
We can follow it without hurrying our
selves.
In little while the place Of execution
appears before me, thronged with null
titude swaying like a tide, and up from
the sea of heads energies the white mast
of the scaffold.
Iapproach.
Lying upon stool, covered with a
snow white cloth, is the garrote itself
shimmeTing like crown of steel. In
little while the executioner will attach it
10 a post against which the criminal IS 10
be fastened The final preparations con
sumed considerable time, so that was
well able to make a lcisurely examination
of the sinister locality whittier curiosity
had drawn me for the purpose of study
ing the physiognomy of the great pushing
or squeezing crowd. As always, and in
all places, the women were the most nu-
merous. The plaza where the execution
took place is on very high ground, and
the pure air one breathes there must in
crease tic criminals regret for life at the
moment when his respiration is about to
be cut short forever. The houses sur
rounding it, mostly of humble aspect, are
widely interspaced, Between them
stranger who loves classic landscapes can
obtain a good view of the sunburned and
yellow plains of Nueva Castillo and the
blush mountains of Guadamara in the
horizon.
The deploy of military forces about the
Ecaffold was considerable. counted no
less than six detachments of different
corps. There were lancers with Prussian
shaped helmets of brass, gendarmes in
black with yellow straps and belts and
white trimmings, blue uniformed light
cavalry, infantry, provincial guards with
red caps. The martial department Of
men, nearly all young, strong and hand
some, impressed me very much.
Now there is a great movement around
the scaffold The soldiers close their
ranks and three men approach the scat
fold. One Of them aseends it. 1t is the
executioner He is thin, low-sized and
ing for his victim he keeps wSlRilfs WIT NIT
vously to and fro with his hands behind
his back and his head down. From time
to time he stops and looks at the argolla
(the '.garrote'D with a suspicious express
sion of countcnance Perhaps he is afraid
of the power of resistance possessed by
the cervical vcrtcbrp of Alvarez, and is
therefore afraid of losing his bounty.
Noisy as it was little while ago, the
crowd now suddenly becomes silent.
Some women are turning pale; and one
ian feel that Il nervous excitement weighs
upon the crowd. A low rumbling is heard.
It is the black carriage that bears the con
lemned man. 1t stops at the foot of the
and the criminal is soon pain
July climbing the twelve high steps of
he dismal scaffold, leaning on the arm
If priest. Another priest precedes him,
fitting very high an immense crucifix, To-
ward which the condemned man strives to
urn his terror-stricken face. Alvarez
Diva is not yet twenty-five years old:
nd it was believed that the savage energy
le had displayed in committing his crime.
Ogether with his vigorous youth, would
i've him strength to face death. But
Iothing Of the kind is now shown by
i'm; and really it was too much 10 ex-
'ect of man who knew his fate forty
light hours ago, and who, while listening
the funeral chants in the prison chapel, |
must have beheld all kinds of hideous |
isions passing before him.
A | stood on an elevation overlooking |
he scaifold, was able to observe all the |
etails of the last scene of the tragedy.
he condemned man mechanically
ielded himself up to the executioner.
he latter sat him down at the foot of
he post, with his back to it, and then
led his hands and feet hard and fast.
lie did all this without hurrying himself
n the least, and with all that dignified
which characterizes the
parish functionary in the discharge of
is duty. If the preparations had lasted
ven a few seconds longer believe |
hould have lost all my own self-control
could hear my heart humping in my
reast, and every moment or two some
hing like veil came before my eyes
You could not hear even a whisper in
he crowd. While one of the priests
ressed a cruciiix TO the colorless lips of !
he sufferer, another was murmuring !
rords Of consolation and hope into his
ar. But the wretched man was not listen
ny. His expressionless face had waxen
allor, and his eyes, as they wandered
yer the ocean of faces before him, al
eady seemed dim with the dimness Of
cath.
He started considerably when the exc
utioner placed the iron collar about his
eek, and | observed his mouth contract.
hen, however, a white covering thrown
yer his features hid them from further
observation. The executioner then gave
wo or three turns of the screws con-
ected with the instrument of death.
The bones of the neck cracked, a long
rembling ran through the whole body,
he arms twisted outward. Alvarez was
ead.
The Position Taken During Sleep.
A very large number of adults form